In business, there are only two ways to turn a (greater) profit: increase revenue, decrease costs. It is, of course, much easier and more tangible to decrease cost. Costs are like a metaphorical concrete block. They're just sitting there, all of them, right there in the L column of the P&L, constantly in view and offering reminders of their costliness, just waiting to be sculpted, crushed, or thrown out. 

Profit, on the other hand, is the idea of increasing sales by striking out into new verticals. That takes vision, it takes creativity, and has an intangible quality, owing to the fact that those extra sales are still just an idea, a possibility, a figment of imagination that is yet to be realized. And as we have seen with the eagerness with which people are willing to take up AI, a lot of us, and hence a lot of managers, struggle with imagination and creativity. We're seemingly more disconnected than ever from the reality of the steps needed to put an idea into motion. 

So, since the new avenues for profit can't be realized, it's time to cut off your foot and start throwing out those concrete blocks instead to save some money. Like your foot, some of those concrete blocks were probably integral to the foundation of the structure your company is built on, but we'll just close our eyes and worry about that later, and hope for the best.

This endless cost-cutting, of course, leads to a slippery slope of declining working conditions as the rug is pulled out from under everyone. Old heads burn out and leave in frustration. New hires, selected based on their willingness to be exploited and desperation for a job, are unaware of and unable to care about how things used to be. They are, after all, just glad to be back in employment.

Some costs, the right costs, are essential and important to the function of a business. And recognizing employees for their hard work and increased contributions with increased rewards is a core tenet of the employment relationship. 

At some point, push is going to shove where rubber meets road, and when this employer revoked the bonus incentive for employees to work holidays, they quickly learned the meaning of the word "incentive" when no one decided to work on those days when there was no promise of extra reward. 

This bagel shop boss is paying a measly $15 an hour, so asking his employees to shovel snow was going a step too far. 

Shoveling snow is one of those jobs that'll make you appreciate the value of physical labor. (Same goes for sanitation workers — you never appreciate the trash collectors until it's a holiday weekend and no one has removed the piles of trash from your yard.) With snow, of course, an ordinary person can shovel snow… but when it comes to tackling a large area of snow-covered ground, all you can do is hire someone to do it. Most ordinary people aren't going to want to shovel an entire parking lot. It would take hours! Even your strongest worker could spend 9 hours shoveling a parking lot and only get done a small portion. 

This is why a lot of snow removal companies make great money for what they do. They'll salt the area and remove all the snow in a matter of minutes using snowblowers or trucks with shovel attachments. And voila! Within minutes, you can start letting customers into your store again safely and with plenty of space to park. The salt-covered ground ensures that no one will slip and fall on the property either, which could lead to some costly lawsuits. Sure, the owner pays a price, but that is, quite literally, the cost of doing business on a snowy day. 

It's pretty baffling that this bagel shop boss didn't do any of that during one big snowstorm. Maybe he tried to call a snow shoveling service, only to find out that they were booked due to, you know, an already ongoing snowstorm. The real trouble arose when he asked an employee making minimum wage to do the shoveling for him instead! 

Ahhhh, the on-again-off-again boyfriend! A rom-com classic!  

Except, this is not a rom-com: This is her roommate's entitled "boo" with a spare key! So much worse…Living with another human being is bound to have its complications, whether or not you were "besties" beforehand. After all, no two people on earth act the same, eat the same, or most definitely live the same. That's no surprise to us, after all, many roommate dynamics have their complications…However, those highs and lows should be contained strictly between each roommate, not an entire entourage…  

And in this case, by "entourage", we actually mean an entitled, non-contributory freeloader, in the form of this woman's roommate's two-week-at-a-time boyfriend. Bit of a mouthful? We understand. However, unfortunately, that's the best and most accurate way to describe him. Despite the harsh description on our part, we are well aware that the actual blame for this situation should fall on her roommate for allowing said boyfriend to take advantage of their shared apartment. A bit lost? Let's rewind… 
 

This semi-gf was going away on an overseas vacation, leaving behind her roomie and cat. But as she was heading out the door. She informed her roomie that her on-again boyfriend will be "in and out" of the apartment while she's away! But before the door could slam closed, her roomie stopped her, demanding an explanation regarding the necessity of these unannounced visits. 

Her excuse? Feeding the cat. 

I mean, her man's a known freeloader who can't even spell r-e-n-t, so she should try a better excuse than Purina.

Going into work while sick does not make you a hero. To that end, questioning the legitimacy of an employee's sickness is, quite frankly, a dangerous game.

This fast food worker looked visibly unwell at work one morning. He was experiencing "horrendous seasonal allergies" due to his proximity to a Palo Verde tree that was adjacent to his work station. His manager did not let him go home, despite the fact that he was working his way through boxes and boxes of tissues.

The employee tried to ask his manager if he could be moved to a different work station that was farther away from the Palo Verde tree. That request was denied outright as well. He then asked if he could step outside during his next break to pick up some over-the-counter antihistamines to help with his endlessly runny nose, but his manager refused to even let him do that. This was perhaps the most ridiculous of these rejections, considering the widely accepted fact that numerous employees step outside of the workplace during their respective breaks to eat food, get some fresh air, etc. 

Clearly, this guy's manager had zero interest in helping him find a mutually beneficial solution here. So the employee decided to take matters into his own hands and enact a little malicious compliance to prove his point that he should never have been forced to say at work in the first place.